Nolan Grayson
Nolan Grayson is the father of Mark and Oliver Grayson, the husband of Debbie Grayson and the hero known as Omni-Man. History Origins Born as a Viltrumite to the bloodline of Emperor Argall, Nolan's true heritage was hidden from records in order to hide him from Viltrumite enemies. After Argall's death at the hands of Thaedus, Viltrum was quickly swept into chaos and it was decided that the weak in Viltrumite society by eliminated so only the strong remain to form a perfect warrior race. Nolan was born after this bloody and brutal conflict and despite his status in being the true heir to the Viltrumite throne the records of his birth were lost during the crisis, resulting in Thragg taking control of the Viltrum Empire. Instead, Nolan quickly joined the ranks of the illustrious World Conquering Committee, a group tasked with expanding the Viltrum Empire throughout the galaxy by conquering worlds or destroying them if they refused Viltrumite occupation. Despite joining the Committee, Nolan was not satisfied with his position and for three straight years ambitiously worked to gain one of the best posts available, eventually managing to do so. Nolan was stationed by his superiors on the edge of the ever-growing Viltrum Empire and threw himself into all the missions assigned to him, such as the neutralization of Space Racer and conquering of many worlds. Nolan was graciously rewarded by his Viltrumite peers for his work, gaining control of his own division in the Committee and at the same time becoming a living legend to younger Viltrumites. With all of the Viltrum Empire's successes, disaster soon struck it once again in the form of the Scourge Virus perpetrated by Thaedus. 99.9% of the Viltrumite population was wiped out by the devastating effects of the Scourge Virus and many were left with permanent scars from it. Nolan was among the lucky few who survived the crisis and favored Grand Regent Thragg's new plan of saving the Viltrumites in cross-breeding with other races to help keep their armies numbers up. To help with this effort, Nolan joined in on the mission and was assigned to Earth in order to see if the population there was ripe for cross-breeding and if so was to weaken the planet's defenses for easy conquest. Life on Earth First arriving on Earth, Nolan began to regret his mission once he was forced to blend into the vibrant nest of individuality that was Earth's society. However, he stuck out his orders and he soon became embroiled in constant battles with other threats that sought to challenge Earth's potential status as part of the Viltrum Empire such as Allen. Nolan soon became a fully-fledged superhero on Earth and pretend to act in its best interests to fool figures of global authority such as Cecil Stedman, who Nolan formed a working relationship with. After unofficially becoming a member of the renowned Guardians of the Globe, Nolan met his wife Debbie, with whom he shared a fabricated version of his alien mission with and eventually married. The two eventually bore a son who they named Mark and as his years on Earth drew on so did Nolan's emotional connection to the people of the planet. Becoming conflicted with his own mission, Nolan decided to turn his back on his own duties for awhile and maintain his lie about his nature on Earth to be able to raise Mark to young adulthood. After spending many years comfortably living his lie on Earth, Nolan is once again forced to refocus on his Viltrumite mission once learning that Mark has developed his biologically inherited Viltrumite abilities. Nolan, at first, tries to act as normal as possible around his friends and family, even taking Mark to Art Rosenbaum in order to get his son his very own costume and patrolling with Mark to stop various crimes. Flaxan Dimension During one of his patrols, this time accompanied by Mark, Nolan is called to the scene of an invasion perpetrated by the Flaxans. Nolan and his son quickly get to work in fighting off the alternate dimension menace and soon realize that despite the high numbers of Flaxans, time in the Flaxan dimension must work differently and as a result the race ages faster in the Earth dimension. Omni-Man uses this to his advantage and becomes unhinged in his attacks against the Flaxans, causing them to retreat back to their own dimension and greatly shocking Mark. Nolan was immediately experimented on by his Flaxan captors who managed to inhibit his Viltrumite abilities and enslaved him to their own service. After eight months of forced labor, Nolan finally broke free of Flaxan control and regained his powers, inciting a rebellion against the ruling government, one which resulted in the destruction of the Flaxan crown city Klaxia. Nolan, after successfully winning the revolt against the Flaxan government, had a team of Flaxan scientists build him a device that managed to send him back to his own home dimension. Unknown to Nolan at this time of the revolt his actions would lead to a massive change in the structure of Flaxan society, one that later gave them the technology and knowledge of Earth to be able to invade it decades later in Flaxan time, leading inadvertently to the capture of the Earth born superheros Robot and Monster Girl. His actions in the Flaxan dimension also lead Nolan to be called The Destroyer by the Flaxan people for generations to come. Twin Betrayals Nolan tries to readjust back to his superhero life on Earth and continues to attempt to ignore his mission objectives, however, he realizes he can no longer delay the inevitable, deciding to strike against Earth's top defenses. He heads to the Guardians of the Globe base in Utah and calls the diverse superhero team to the base on the pretenses of a false emergency. Nolan quickly slaughters the whole team once they arrive and begins his subterfuge against Earth in the name of the Viltrum Empire. Despite his close working relationship with the Guardians nobody suspects Nolan with having the motive to outright murder all of them. Instead the prime suspect label is pinned on Black Samson, a former member of the Guardians who was kicked out. Nolan and Mark later attend the funeral for the Guardians and Nolan delivers a speech about how his now deceased colleagues will be remembered for generations to come. Sanford, an old friend of Black Samson's who managed to steal a new prototype suit developed for his friend attacks the funeral service not moments after Nolan's speech. Omni-Man snaps to action and manages to subdue the crazed Samson who is later carted off to prison. Over the course of the next few days it was visibly noticed by some that Nolan was acting strangely, despite he himself reassuring everything was fine. Despite this, Nolan was still highly conflicted over his murder of the friends he once considered the Guardians and the fact he had to probably kill even more superhero colleagues to complete his mission. He tries to tell Mark about his true nature of being on Earth but finds he lacks the proper way to do so. After Nolan managed to fight off another menace to Earth society he is taken by surprise from a sneak attack initiated by the recently resurrected Guardian of the Globe member Immortal. His former friend demands to know why Nolan committed the murders of the other Guardians and vows to beat it out of the Viltrumite if he has to. Not noticing that Mark had approached their fight, Nolan states that he can easily kill Immortal again and rips him in half, seemingly killing Immortal. Mark then calls his father's attention in confusion over his actions and Nolan tells his son that they need to talk. Nolan tells his son of his true purpose on Earth, that he intends to go through with it, and asks Mark to join him in his mission of planetary domination. Mark still is confused on why his father would so quickly turn on all he has protected for years, citing that he knows his father really still loves Debbie. Nolan responds by telling Mark that he believes her to be little more than a pet and because of the Viltrumite's long life-span would easily outlive her. He then tells Mark that he would also outlive all of his friends and claims he does not belong among the people of Earth. He once again implores his son to join his cause, however, Mark refuses stating that he does not care about Viltrum and will protect his people on Earth. Nolan warns his son that he will not let him interfere in his takeover and Mark states his already realizes that, leading the two to ready for battle. Omni-Man immediately gets the better of his son and punches him through multiple city buildings. Their fight spills underground into a subway tunnel and Mark begs Nolan to stop what he is doing by pointing out his father seemed truly happy with his mother. Nolan repeatedly tells Mark that he was always living a lie and his love for Debbie was part of that lie. Nolan then says he tires of his son's rebellious actions and brutally pummels him across the globe, finally smashing him through a mountain. Nolan asks why Mark continues to fight for such as fragile society such as Earth and says after five hundred years of living he will have nothing he loves left. However, a broken Mark counters this by saying he will still have his father left which causes Nolan to start crying, greatly conflicting him over what he has done. Nolan, in a last minute decision, leaves Mark alive and flies away from Earth in self-exile betraying his Viltrumite mission. Self-Exile Nolan was left in a state of heavy internal over the abandonment of his post on Earth and knew the Viltrum Empire would could for him after they found out of his treachery. He sought to lessen the punishment that would befall him for his betrayal and arrived at a new planet to conquer it instead. Nolan found that the planet was inhabited by an insectoid race of people that aged extremely quickly in comparison to the humans on Earth: the Thraxans, who had lifespans of nine months on average. The planet's society also deems the oldest living being the ruling monarch and because of Nolan's extremely old age he was quickly able to assume control of Thraxa. He soon took on a new mate named Andressa and the two sired a son, later named Oliver Grayson. It was not long before Nolan discovered that the Viltrum Empire had learned of his desertion on Earth and self-exile on Thraxa and were coming for him as a result. Fearing he would not be able to face his Viltrumite executioners alone he assigned one of his new subjects to travel to Earth under the guise of Science Dog and convince Mark to assist in the coming battle. After his son arrives to see him, Nolan introduces him to his new family and the two briefly reconcile over their past differences on Earth. Their reunion is cut short by the arrival of three Viltrumite warriors who begin to attack the planet. Nolan orders Mark to take his family to the nearby Caves of Roclaine and hide them. Nolan brutally battles against his Viltrumite foes to defend his people and enters battle with Lucan just before he can kill Mark. He quickly regroups with Mark after believing to have killed Lucan and the two head back to the Caves of Roclaine now they are clear of Viltrumite presence. After safely dropping Andressa and his newborn at the caves, Nolan and Mark both head back towards the city, which has now been reduced to rubble by the Viltrumites and thousands of the Thraxans there brutally slaughtered. Nolan is enraged by this discovery and even angrily grabs Mark after he tries to comfort his father. However, at that very moment two Viltrumites descend from the skies to confront Nolan, taunting him over the loss of his new people. He angrily charges one of the two Viltrumites and the two violently clash amid the ruins of the Thraxan city. Mark intervenes and is also attacked by the Viltrumites, Nolan barely just able to save him from being choked to death. Nolan warns Mark that he needs to fight faster and act quickly if he will be able to survive what comes next before warning him to ready for battle. He and his son fight a brutal battle against the Viltrumites but it is to a losing effort, Lucan suddenly reappearing and managing to incapacitate Nolan, thus rendering the Viltrumites victorious in their efforts. After another squad of Viltrumites show up to the planet, Nolan is taken prisoner by them to await execution but not before he tells Mark, who the Viltrumites allow to go free in exchange for taking Nolan's place as Viltrumite agent on Earth, to read his books which contain subtle references to items which could potentially harm Viltrumites. Imprisoned Nolan is taken to a Viltrumite Prison in space not long after his defeat. He is placed in a cell with another prisoner until his spine can heal as the Viltrumite tradition states that a prisoner must be at full health when they are executed. Near the completion of his healing process he admits to another prisoner that he is missing Debbie's company. He soon passes the Viltrumite inspection test and is cleared for execution by General Kregg who proceeds to beat him for his treachery on Earth. Nolan encounters Allen on the way back to his cell and is told by the Unopan that they will speak later. While he sat awaiting his execution, Nolan befriended Allen as the two began to talk via use of Allen's telepathic abilities. Allen informed Nolan that Thaedus, leader of the Coalition of Planets, had sent him personally to recruit Nolan and Mark to the Coalition's cause of ending the Viltrum Empire's reign of terror once and for all. Nolan was at first reluctant to betray his people, however, he was soon convinced by Allen to escape when they two began discussing the chance to see their loved ones again. Nolan's execution was finally ordered and two Viltrumites came to personally complete to gruesome business. Allen, however, had different plans and easily broke free of his holding cell to instigate a prison riot. Moments from Nolan's execution he was rescued by Allen, with the aid of another of the prison's inmates, Battle Beast. The three great warriors fought valiantly to escape from almost impossible odds and Allen eventually managed to rupture a section of the prison's hull, thus forcing the battle into space. Battle Beast and one of the Viltrumite executioners were separated from the main battle and Nolan, Allen, and the other Viltrumite executioner were left standing. Nolan and Allen made short work of the Viltrumite by exploding his head with a powerful dual strike and were left victorious. Allen worried that Viltrumite reinforcements would soon arrive and he would not have enough time to retrieve his gear, however, Nolan informed Allen that no Viltrumites would be coming as there were less than fifty pure-blooded Viltrumites remaining in the whole universe due to the effects of the Scourge Virus. Preparations For War After escaping from the wreck of the Viltrumite prison facility with Allen, Nolan journeys to Talescria, the home world of the Coalition of Planets. Thaedus reveals himself as a Viltrumite to Nolan and says he is surprised that another Viltrumite had the audacity to rebel against the Empire. Thaedus then assigns Nolan and Allen to work together in collecting a list of resources that can help in a war effort against the Viltrum Empire and cites that Nolan's books collected by Allen on Earth will be invaluable in the process. Nolan and Allen first journey to the Nebuloid Belt to retrieve the gun of the legendary Space Racer who Nolan disposed of almost a century ago in service to the Viltrum Empire. To Nolan's surprise when he picks up the Space Racer's gun, which is bonded personally to the Racer, it flies off under the pile of in which Nolan buried the Space Racer under. Nolan believes the gun must still be bonded to the Space Racer despite him being surely dead and asks Allen to help him dig it out of the rubble. To both of their surprises the Space Racer then bursts out of the rubble and demands Nolan give him one good reason not to kill him. The three get into a small fight and the asteroid housing them is torn apart during this struggle. Allen eventually convinces Space Racer to calm down by telling him of Nolan reforming to help the Coalition end the threat of the Viltrum Empire. Space Racer is then offered a position into the Coalition's ranks by both Nolan and Allen to which the Racer cautiously accepts, but claims that he will not hesitate to kill them if they try to double cross him. Appearances ''Invincible'' Volume 1: Family Matters * * Powers/Abilities Omni-Man is the Earth's greatest superhero due to his Viltrumite abilities making him so. His powers include surviving in the vacuum of space unprotected, having superhuman strength, a tremendous lung capacity, being able to fly, endure brutal attacks, be immune to one or more forms of physical damage or injury, live longer than mortals, hold overriding genetic traits, and move at superhuman speed. A former soldier of the Vitrum empire, Nolan is very skilled in hand-to-hand combat, charismatic, and deceptive. Category:Viltrumites Category:Superheroes